AquaSox fall in series finale to Tri-City

Published 9:20 pm Sunday, April 12, 2026

EVERETT — Just six pitches into their series finale against the Tri-City Dust Devils at Everett Memorial Stadium on Sunday, the Everett AquaSox found themselves down two runs.

After leadoff hitter Johan Macias blasted a triple to deep center field, third baseman Jake Munroe crushed a two-run homer off AquaSox starter Walter Ford to make it 2-0. It was far from an ideal beginning, but one that Ford would quickly have to move past.

“You just got to lock in, go back to your plan,” Ford said. “There’s nothing you really rely on except your plan throughout the day.”

Sticking to his plan, Ford retired the next three batters, and Everett tied it 2-2 in the bottom of the first to clear the slate entering the second inning, but that was as much as the offense would generate the rest of the afternoon.

Following Randy De Jesus’s go-ahead home run in the second inning, Tri-City picked up two more insurance runs down the stretch to secure the 5-2 win. However, the AquaSox still won the series after winning the other four games between Tuesday’s home-opener and Sunday.

“They’re going to come out and they’re going to compete and feel like we’re never out of the fight,” Everett manager Ryan Scott said. “We did a great job responding after that first game (a 17-2 loss on Tuesday) where we kind of really got punched in the mouth there. … So it was good for the guys to respond and come back, and ultimately win a series.”

Ford allowed six hits and four earned runs across five innings, walking one and notching two strikeouts. After allowing home runs in both the first and second innings, the 21-year-old righty allowed three straight Dust Devils to reach via a single, a double and a walk to load the bases.

In a spot where one mistake could lead to Tri-City breaking the game open, Ford retired the next two batters to end the inning — allowing just one run to score on a sacrifice fly — before going six up, six down across the fourth and fifth to end his day on a high note. Ford said he felt better about his pitch location as the day went on.

“Leaving the ball up early, I got a little yipped up,” Ford said. “But I was able to kind of settle in there those last couple (innings), and then it was kind of just easy from there.”

As for the bats, the AquaSox totaled just four hits, two from third baseman Carter Dorighi.

Catcher Josh Caron had one of the others, scoring shortstop Felnin Celesten with an RBI-double off the left field wall in the bottom of the first, and first baseman Matthew Ellis smacked his lone hit right after. Working back from 1-2 to a full count, Ellis sent a single up the gap between second and third base to bring Caron home for the tying run.

“Just trying to get back to the basics,” said Ellis, who went 3-for-6 against Spokane on April 5, but was 0-for-10 in the rest of his at-bats entering Sunday. “Get a fastball, go hard to the plate, and I do some damage with it. Credit to Caron with a big two-out hit right there to keep that inning alive, making it to second where he was able to score there.”

De Jesus grabbed the lead back in the top of the second for the Dust Devils with a solo home run, and catcher Peter Burns extended it to 4-2 in the third with a sacrifice fly to center after Tri-City loaded the bases.

After Ford went 1-2-3 in the fourth, Everett appeared to get a rally going when Ellis led off with a walk and Dorighi singled to right field, but second baseman Axel Sanchez grounded into a fielder’s choice to keep runners at first and second before outfielder Anthony Donofrio grounded into a double play.

The AquaSox went after pitches aggressively in the middle innings, swinging early in counts and putting the ball in play, but not finding gaps to get on base with.

“We swung on some good pitches. We hit a few balls hard and had some bad luck on some ground balls and some double plays,” Scott said. “Sometimes that’s just baseball, but we can hang our hats. We played a good series this week, so it was good overall.”

Neither team put a runner on base in the fifth or sixth innings, but Tri-City outfielder Jorge Ruiz led off the seventh with a double to center field. Macias lined out to second two batters later, but Sanchez botched the throw to Celesten looking to pick off Ruiz for the double play. The ball rolled into foul territory, and Ruiz slid into home while barely beating the throw to extend the Dust Devils lead to 5-2.

The AquaSox made another play at the plate in the eighth, but got the out that time as outfielder Curtis Washington Jr. gunned down pinch-runner Adrian Placencia to prevent a run on Burns’ single.

Relievers Ben Hernandez, Chase Centala and Christian Little combined for three hits allowed across four innings of relief, with Hernandez allowing the lone unearned run on Sanchez’s throwing error in the seventh, but the Tri-City relievers were similarly efficient to close out the win after starter Yeferson Vargas allowed three hits, four walks and two earned runs in six innings.

“I think we put together a lot of really good at-bats together throughout the week,” Ellis said. “Especially late in the game, as games were getting closer to the back half of the game, I thought the guys put a lot of really quality at-bats together and built some momentum for the days moving forward, and stuff like that. So I think we’re in a pretty good spot moving forward.”